Many homes in North America rely upon forced air heating and cooling systems. Air is distributed throughout the house by a network of ducts. These ducts are prone to trapping dirt and debris which can reduce the efficiency of the furnace, clog furnace filters, exacerbate allergies and generally make it difficult for the house owner to maintain a dust free environment. The frequency at which ducts should be cleaned varies from once per year to once every five years depending on conditions in and around the home. Homes near construction zones, homes with pets or homes where the owners have allergies need to be cleaned more often than usual. Recently renovated homes, new homes, resale homes and homes with new furnaces should also have their ducts cleaned. A duct cleaning operation can remove several pounds of dust and debris from the duct system. A typical duct cleaning contractor may charge between $300 and $600 for a duct cleaning operation. It requires the installation of bulky and noisy equipment and a large truck to carry the suction motor and filters. During such an operation, the home owner is forced out of the home due to noise. Numerous patents disclose attempts at providing a duct cleaning apparatus for use in the home that is both efficient and cost-effective. However, they fail to do so for a variety of reasons. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,568 Duct Sweeper issued to Wade on Apr. 28, 1992 discloses a duct sweeper having a turbine and motorized head. Such a device is expensive and heavy to operate and cannot be used with existing household vacuum cleaners. U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,667 Duct Cleaning Device issued to Williams on Sep. 8, 1998 discloses a device comprising a brush attached to the end of a suction hose and then inserted into the duct and moved in a scrubbing back-and-forth motion. Such a device is not effective because much of the debris remains in the duct and outside the vacuum zone of the nozzle which is partially obscured by the brush.
Therefore, there is a health and financial benefit to increasing the frequency and reducing the cost of duct cleaning by providing a duct cleaning apparatus that is easily attached to a household vacuum cleaner and easily used by the householder to clean dust and debris from ducts on a regular basis.